What is the deal with all the tech podcasts?

A little narcissistic, perhaps. I’ve been hooked on podcasts for nearly a year now, since reading about Adam Curry and his iPodder startup in Wired last year, and now the secret’s out. Everybody’s got a podcast, some people’s pets have podcasts, and iTunes, NPR, CBS and every other media outlet now has its own little encapsulated piece of the big free pie (although it just came out today that iTunes is exploring advertising methods on iTunes Music Store as well as inserting them onto “free” podcasts).So I’ve been looking for new podcasts to listen to because, as you will know if you consume them as I do, every decent podcast gets stale after the creator runs out of energy, motivation or material to make it work. The great thing about podcasting is that, like Web sites, ANYone can create and publish. But this has created a lot of real garbage cluttering up the marketplace. Looking on iTunes podcast store today I found nearly 100 featured “technology news” podcasts. There are the established media outlets like CNN, CNET and NPR making their waves, but then there are micro-produced podcasts by anyone and everyone, most of which fall into the “Photoshop tips,” “Mac geek,” “Today in tech,” and “Tech wizard tips” with a few unique ones out there.But how many different bad podcasts do we need? A little testing will tell you that there are one or two real deals out there, and then a dozen “also-rans” for every keeper. There are some clear-and-present dangers appearing as well, such as the use of attractive women as promo wallpaper or video hosts, to hook all of those (we) socially inept tech geeks out there.I guess the answer is that the technology really just lets anyone who’s got a thought get it out there, regardless of whether anyone cares to hear it. (Not completely unlike this blog). In the end, we’re all just out there seeking to be heard. Like that Coldplay song…”you just want….somebody listening to what you say…”